For the previous few weeks, every single day at 7:38 PM ET, I get an e-mail titled “seven39 is open once more.” From 7:39PM, I’ve precisely three hours to take a look at an experimental new social media web site earlier than it fully shuts down.
It’s not an empty menace, both. If you go to seven39.com exterior of that three-hour window, you’ll be greeted by a pink “presently closed” signal. You’ll additionally get a quick explainer of its mission: “Social media is best once we’re all on-line collectively. No infinite scrolling. No FOMO. Just 3 hours of enjoyable each night.”
To my drained previous bones, that’s a compelling pitch. I’ve tried all of the flavors of social media poison because the downfall of Twitter. In 2025, all social media has the identical formulation. The endless doomscroll retains you on the platform. The longer you scroll and the extra you have interaction with clickbait and the principle character of the day, the extra adverts and affiliate hyperlinks you will be fed. By bedtime, your consideration span is shot, you’ve been mildly entertained, and generally, you are feeling indignant for no actual purpose.
With seven39, the scroll is finite. There aren’t any adverts — only a single chronological feed from customers in opposition to a purple backdrop. It seems to be like a primary Twitter clone. It has a 200-character restrict. You put up, and you’ll see replies together with likes. You can add photographs, observe customers, and see top-performing posts. There are presently no reposts or quote posts, and that three-hour window is tied to the Eastern time zone. Think of it as social media with a curfew.
What do individuals put up about? The similar issues the terminally on-line have at all times posted. Self introductions. Memes. The compulsory pet photograph. There’s a man who, every single day, posts an image of a rat drawn on a sticky notice. One evening, I’m drawn into a gentle stream of posts from a person with a frog avatar. All they do is wax biblically about roboids. Another evening, I go browsing to see somebody ask the group what’s occurring. The reply: a person named loss of life has by accident eaten some deodorant.
Most individuals use nameless handles, although you should utilize your actual identification if you’d like. Some posts have lengthy dialogue threads, whereas others have only a handful of likes. So far, everybody I’ve seen has been cordial, although the occasional snark can sneak by.
It has the power of a ’90s or early 2000s internet discussion board: the type of old-school web site that you just joined for god is aware of what purpose, the place you don’t really know anyone in actual life. After a number of days, you begin recognizing common characters by their handles. When there’s not numerous new content material, you may wander off to do one thing else.
That retro really feel is intentional, says Mark Lyons, creator of seven39. He says the final word aim is to discover if there’s one other strategy to be social on-line, one which resembles how we used to be on-line earlier than smartphones have been a factor.
There’s a man who, every single day, posts an image of a rat drawn on a sticky notice
“There was particularly a time after college, the place you go [online] and play a recreation, or your pals would come on and be on AIM on the similar time. There was a constant cycle to it and there was at all times one thing thrilling. And then, everybody logs off,” Lyons says.
Most of the customers I’ve seen and interacted with dig Lyons’ imaginative and prescient. “It’s a enjoyable place the place persons are good,” says person CameronBanga, in response to a put up the place I requested why everybody preferred the positioning. “I like the old fashioned web really feel to this web site,” says one other person named Ship. A handful of customers additionally expressed how fashionable social media went downhill as soon as “individuals began to care about wanting cool on-line.” In a nutshell, seven39 customers by and huge appear to overlook a time when issues felt cozy and other people genuinely linked.
The query is whether or not that’s sufficient to maintain individuals round. The drawback with social media is it’s like a neighborhood restaurant — you want regulars to outlive. You want to provide individuals a purpose to come back again, and if you wish to develop, you have to discover a strategy to convey new individuals in. On each of those fronts, seven39 has some work to do.
Many nights, I’ve forgotten to log in to seven39 in any respect. That three-hour window is paradoxically the time once I typically get dinner with associates or spend time with my partner. Most usually, I briefly verify in on the positioning, see what’s taking place for about 5 minutes, after which go off to do different issues. Maybe I reply to a remark or like a put up. But with a small-ish group of roughly 3,000 customers, there are some nights the place there’s merely not a ton taking place. If it’s not sticky sufficient, finally seven39 will peter out. Building new habits is tough, and I already usually overlook to verify the positioning.
This can also be very a lot one man’s pet mission. That’s a part of the magic, and the issue. On the one hand, it’s cool to see options added as customers counsel them. One day, there wasn’t the power to observe or @ different customers. The subsequent, Lyons added it. At the identical time, it might probably lack polish. I’ve had the positioning bug out on me when replying to feedback or importing a picture. Lyons can also be presently blocking 7:39 to 10:39PM ET each evening to control the positioning. That’s not sustainable long run, particularly if he widens or provides different time slots to attract in additional individuals.
Content moderation is one other massive query mark. It’s manageable now, however even in early days, customers query whether or not to put up political or NSFW content material. The advantage of a tight-knit platform is that most individuals agree it’s higher to carry off for now. That gained’t at all times work, particularly if extra individuals be part of.
For now, Lyons is selecting to embrace this as an experiment. He says it’s advantageous if it is a web site that stays small. He insists it’s a good factor if customers have one thing else they’d slightly do.
“Maybe I’ll discover out that that is only a cool concept and mission, however not a viable enterprise,” he says. “But I’m attempting to construct it extra from the precept of, if we’re going to do social media as a society, possibly we should always work out a strategy to do it much less.”
